Faculty & Staff
Very Revd Dr Aetios Nikiforos
Lecturer in Canon Law
Course Units
Subject Area
Canon Law
Teaching and Research Interests
Canon Law
Ecclesiastical Law
Comparative Religious Law
Law and Religion; Constitutional Law and History
Legal and Ecclesiastical History
Legal Theory and Methodology
Qualifications
Ph.D. (Cardiff Law, 2025)
Pg.Cert (Cardiff Law, 2020)
M.Div. (SVOTS, 2018)
LL.M. (NYU Law, 2014)
LL.M. (AUTH Law, 2012)
LL.B. (AUTH Law, 2010).
Very Revd Dr Aetios Nikiforos
Lecturer in Canon Law
The Very Rev. Dr. Aetios (Dimitrios) Nikiforos, Grand Ecclesiarch and Director of the Private Office of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, is a Lecturer in Canon Law at St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Theological College (Australian University College of Divinity; Sydney, Australia). He was born in 1989 in Kavala (Greece), where he received his primary and secondary education. In October 2006 he entered the Law School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), from which he graduated in October 2010. In November 2010 he entered the LLM Program in Public Law and Political Science of the same Law School, majoring in Constitutional Law, from which he graduated in November 2012. His LLM thesis in Constitutional Law was entitled “The Principle of Proportionality as a Medium of the National and the EU Legal Orders: The Withdrawal of Constitutional Conflicts via Common Fundamental Principles.” In August 2013 he entered the LLM program in Legal Theory of NYU School of Law (New York; NY, USA), on a Fulbright Scholarship, from which he graduated in September 2014. His LLM thesis in Constitutional History was entitled “National Unity as the Precondition for the Fulfillment of Inclusive Constitutionalism in Constantine Karamanlis’ Constitutional Philosophy.” In August 2015 he entered the MDiv Program of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (Crestwood; NY, USA), from which he graduated in May 2018. His honors MDiv thesis in Canon Law, for which he received commendation, was entitled “The Influence of Greco-Roman Legal Thought on the Development of the Methodological Principle of οἰκονομία in Byzantine Canon Law: The Local Cappadocian Traditions of Gregory Thaumaturgos.” In June 2025 he received his Ph.D. in Ecclesiastical and Canon Law from Cardiff University School of Law and Politics (Wales, UK), after the successful defense of his doctoral dissertation, entitled “The Creation of a System of Orthodox Canon Law: The Case of the Pedalion.”
From 2012 to 2019 he worked as a Lawyer of First Instance. On March 16th, 2019, he was tonsured monk, on the next day he was ordained to the holy diaconate and on November 3rd, 2019, he was ordained to the holy priesthood and received the offikion of the Grand Ecclesiarch of the Holy Great Church of Christ by the hand of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the Venerable Patriarchal Church of St George in the Phanar (Istanbul, Turkey). On March 17th, 2021, he was appointed by His All-Holiness Director of the Private Patriarchal Office. He serves as member and secretary of the Synodal Canonical Commission and as member of the Synodal Commission on Inter-Orthodox Affairs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Publications
Books Edited
Legal Thought and Eastern Orthodox Christianity: The Addresses of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I (London & New York, NY: Routledge – Taylor & Francis Group, 2024) [with Norman Doe] ISBN 987-1-032-61037-5 (hbk)/978-1-032-63673-3 (pbk)/978-1-032-63674-0 (ebk).
Chapters in Books
“The Canonist Patriarch: His All-Holiness Bartholomew and the Development of Canon Law,” in Legal Thought and Eastern Orthodox Christianity: The Addresses of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Norman Doe and Aetios Nikiforos (eds.) (London & New York, NY: Routledge – Taylor & Francis Group, 2024), 9-19.
“Conclusion – The 2016 Statement of Principles of Christian Law: A Landmark in the History of the Ecumenical Movement and a Pivotal Stepping-Stone to Christian Unity,” in Church Laws and Ecumenism: A New Path for Christian Unity, Norman Doe (ed.) (London & New York, NY: Routledge – Taylor & Francis Group, 2021), 247-255.
“‘Memorandum of ... «Supremacy»’ – Μια περίπτωση υπεροχής του ενωσιακού δικαίου έναντι του Ελληνικού Συντάγματος;” [“‘Memorandum of ... «Supremacy»’ – A Case of EU Law’s Primacy Over the Greek Constitution?”],inΤρίτο κοινό σεμινάριο Συνταγματικού Δικαίου (Βόλος, 24 Μαρτίου 2011) [Third Common Seminar in Constitutional Law (Volos, March 24, 2011)], Antonis Manitakis and Yiannis Z. Drossos (eds.) (Athens: University of Athens Publications, 2011), 31-65.
Journals Articles
“The Confluence of Civil and Ecclesiastical Justice – The Right of Appeal (Ἔκκλητον) to the Ecumenical Patriarch in Light of the Case Law of the Supreme Administrative Court of Greece: A Case Study,” Kanon 27 (2024): 373-393.
“Obituary – Metropolitan Pavlos Menevissoglou (1935-2022),” Ecclesiastical Law Journal 25 (2023): 126-138 and (2nd ed.): “Metropolitan Pavlos Menevissoglou (1935-2022): A Distinguished Canonist,” Ἀνάλεκτα Ἀνθρωπιστικῶν Ἐπιστημῶν [Analecta of Humanities] 5 (2025): 5-19.
“Rediscovering Anglican Priests – Jurists: III, William Beveridge (1637-1708),” Ecclesiastical Law Journal 23 (2021): 82-99 [with Norman Doe].
Case Comment, “Συμβούλιο της Επικρατείας, απόφαση αριθμ. 4467/2012, 19.11.2012 (Αίτηση για δίκαιη ικανοποίηση λόγω υπέρβασης της εύλογης διάρκειας της διοικητικής δίκης) – Παρατηρήσεις” [“Council of State, Case No 4467/2012, 19.11.2012 (Petition of Just Satisfaction for Exceeding the Reasonable Length of Proceedings in Administrative Court) – Comments”], Ελληνική Επιθεώρηση Ευρωπαϊκού Δικαίου [Greek Review of European Law] 4 (2012): 453-462.
Case Comment, “Ο αναιρετικός έλεγχος της αρχής της αναλογικότητας (Υπόθεση Λιοναράκης κατά Ελλάδας 5.7.2007)” [“Cassation Check of the Proportionality Principle (Case: Lionarakis v. Greece, 5.7.2007)”], Αρμενόπουλος: Επιστημονική Επετηρίδα [Harmenopoulos: Scientific Yearbook] 31 (2010): 201-209 [with Parthena Moisidou].
Professional Memberships
Canon Law Society of America – Member in Good Standing [since 07/2025]
Society for the Law of the Eastern Churches – Member in Good Standing [since 05/2021]
Ecumenical Christian Law Panel of Experts – Member in Good Standing [since 11/2020]
Centre for Law and Religion, Cardiff Law School – Fellow [since 10/2019]
Ecclesiastical Law Society – Member in Good Standing [since 12/2017]